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I’ve been so busy with Life that I haven’t slowed down to start a build thread for my workshop makeover. You know Life - the stuff between work and sleep. Usually more time is available for Life on weekends, but there is never enough to go around.

Construction:.....CMU block for two walls, Gypsum Wall Board on studs for the other two walls

Ceiling:.......9’-0” High - Drywall on bottom of trusses

Floor:.........4” concrete slab-on-grade. Was painted, now with 12” RaceDeck

Doors:........(2) 7’ high roll-up overhead doors = one 16’ double wide and one 8’ single wide
.................(2) man-doors = one to the Kitchen and one exterior door to the side yard

Electrical:....Three 110v GFI receptacles on the walls and two (2) more on the ceiling.

Lighting:......Two 100 watt bulbs on the ceiling and two 4’ double-bulb shop lights at the workbench.

Plumbing:.....None, except that the water heater is in the garage

Goal:..........To create an extremely functional workshop and can still park cars in

The Before Shot…

Also referred to as “Point A”

Current Progress Shot…

It’s somewhere past “Point A” and nowhere remotely close to “Point B” . . .
The floor is down, full height cabinets are finished on the left, spray paint cabinet s built in otherwise wasted space in front of the A/C Ductwork and new lights are installed. It is still a work in progress. Come along for the ride...

FYI, this is the boring background stuff. Feel free to scroll down and jump right down to the pictures. They are easier to read than all this text stuff. I just need to include this to help build the plot line.\

The Name… Salt Life Hideout
I was going to name this thread “Blame it on the Great Garage Makeover Magazine” (2010) because that is where I started this roller coaster of an adventure, but I think having a name gives the place an identity.

“Salt Life” is an ocean-inspired clothing line that promotes anything around salt water – Fishing, Diving, Surfing and Beach. There is also a ‘Salt Life Food Shack’ on Jax Beach with more to come. (BTW, the www.saltlife.com website also has some hot beach beauty models to admire ) For me, the “Salt Life” is more of a family thing. I was really born into it. I dive, fish and vacation on the beach, but, being a Wingnut, I’d rather hang out at the airport! I thought about naming it “Wingnut’s Hangar”, but it may be a few years before it houses a plane. And ‘Asylum’ was already taken by another garage nut.

My beautiful wife of 17 years is very supportive of this adventure. She is more than ‘tolerant’ of the project, so I'd say ‘supportive’ is appropriate. (She hasn’t denied any garage related investments, yet). We have twin 14-year old daughters who will be going into Senior High this year. With three women in the house, there are times of the day and the month that I just stay in the garage for my own sanity - too many hormones in the house. And the real boyfriends haven’t even started yet. But we’ve told the girls that they can’t date until they are engaged! That should discourage boys like me even talking to them. Not that I didn’t turn out OK, but these are MY girls.

Anyways, with all these wonderful women that I live with, I feel an appropriate name for my little piece of tranquility is it's my “Salt Life Hideout”. It’s my Hideout where I feel I can be safe from the women in my life. Except that I have been known to find nail polish on my workbench.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Salt Life, Inc. of Jacksonville, FL. Although I have financially supported the entrepreneurs who created Salt Life with the purchase of many t-shirts, stickers and other branded items. I am not interested in making any money off the promotion of their product line through the naming of my workshop.”Salt Life” and its logo is copyrighted by Salt Life Inc.

Project History…
In August 2001, my family moved from Miami to the Tampa Bay Area and we had this 3-car garage with attached house built for us. Before I moved any car into the garage, I sealed the floor. I pushed all the yet-to-be-unpacked boxes into the third bay and I painted the two open bays with H&C concrete sealer in Bombay color. The intent was to unpack the boxes and then paint the third bay. Didn’t happen!

I use the garage as a workshop, but my wife (aka: Minister of Finance), has the distorted idea that a garage is to park cars. I don’t know how I can build an airplane if I have cars in the garage! In my shop, woodwork, car repairs and someday, aluminum work - possibly a Vans RV-7A or a Sonex, and I build models for a hobby and for pay. I am also the family fix-it-man for anything that breaks. I have enough space in the garage to assemble an RV-7A with both wings, tail feathers, engine, cowl AND spinner! But before I could persuade the Minister of Finance (aka, Mrs. Wingnut) to allow the purchase of the first of several kits to start building an airplane, my mother offered me our family’s 1965 VW Bus. This was a big decision I needed to make – the expense of starting a really cool and fast airplane kit or a free VW Bus. My Minister of Finance, also a CPA, agreed our family budget could accommodate a FREE VW. So, the VW is now in the workshop.

By the time I brought the bus home, I still had not finished painting the floor of the third bay. I didn’t want to do any work on the bus in the third bay with the chance of oil and grease staining the bare concrete. I first found Garage Journal when I was researching flooring options. I read many threads and considered epoxy floor as being my product of choice. But 9 years of working in the garage has accumulated more stuff than I can handle to move out to be able to paint the floor in one shot. Then the idea of the race flag checkerboard VCT was planned. But, it ended up being the slip concerns for our frequent rains and dripping cars and puddles, I ended up with RaceDeck. That story will be a later post.

It was April 2010 that I picked up the “Great Garage Makeover” Magazine at the check-out counter of Home Depot. Now that I think of it, this thread and my whole garage makeover project is based off an impulse buy! (Well, at least it wasn’t another impulse tool buy this time!) I went through that magazine front to back several times. I went on-line searching for products mentioned in it and Garage Journal kept popping up in the search results. I wanted to see the pictures, so I joined GJ and jumped into the discussions. My garage renovation started to work itself out. And the ideas keep getting better.

I know, I hear you saying “enough about me and get to the pix”

Make sure your seat belts are fastened securely, here comes the time warp…

Before Shots…
Dateline April 2010…
Bay #1 is where my wife’s car parks. The VW is in bay # 2 with my workshop in bay #3. Notice the concrete sealer isn’t sealing any more. The clutter was just getting to me.
01

Coming down the street, this is the first view people see when the door is opened. I always hated the clutter of the yard tools and HOA says no to sheds, so they stay inside. The plywood was for Hurricane Charlie but wasn’t needed. It is now the floor to my attic.
02

I have my 6’ and 4’ step ladders on the wall next to my hurricane panels. Yes, there are several that are Lexan panels. When the house is closed up and we are hunkering down for a storm, it is dark when the power goes off. With a couple Lexan panels on the front and rear, we can have light. The cabinet was a damaged one from our last home remodel and so it hangs in the garage with storage above…
03

Storage shelf above the door. Brooms, etc hang near the door. Recycling bins on the boxes of tile. Christmas tree stand on the wall… Just too much clutter.
04

When we had our new floor tile replaced due to popping tiles, we bought extra tiles to fill in several rooms where we have carpet for the girls to play on. Until that decade comes, I have tiles to store (and not in the attic)
05

Progress on tear-down on the VW stopped and it became a storage area (and a storage unit). I’ve dug it out several times to re-start working on it, but it still gets buried.
06

07

The front wall of the garage has the A/C unit, large cabinet, old kitchen cabinets from past homes, TV, small fridge, extension cords, lots of junk and one of dad’s steel workbenches with 2x’s for the top. Another abnormality in here is that I have a 4” step that is 32” deep across the front of the garage.
08

The green cabinet is from our 1966 house in Miami and actually has yellow p-lam doors that my mom painted years ago. Some of my dad’s old RC airplane wings are stored on dowels into furring strips. My 5” no-name vise is on this bench. I’ll post more pix of it when I give it the Red Leader Once Over with Verde Green!
09

The small boxes on the workbench shelves are some of the assorted hardware and parts my dad had accumulated. The notebook is actually the preview plans for a Vans RV-7A
10

Over the back door, I have my router table on a sheet of plywood that I hook over two lag bolts
11

This is one of the storage ideas I made when I moved is used all the time. It is 4-1/2” wide plywood strips made into a shelving unit just for boxes of nails and screws. Everyone in my family knows where to find hardware. It is sized to fit on the end of the cabinet. Not sure where I will move it to if/when I move the cabinet. (The DC-3 was a freebie when I bought my Lincoln Welder. Straight edges are on a nail on the door frame,
12

The Workshop Side…
The right side of my garage is my workshop. I had the plywood back-board on my wall in Miami and just brought it with me. Not sure it will stay. My workbench is a counter removed from this house on cabinets from the last house.
01

The wall panel on the left holds clamps and other tools
02

Long pipe clamps are on blocks mounted up high
03

Big C-clamps are on wood blocks down low. Smaller C-clamps are on dowels to the right.
04

Below is the storage of tall, long, thin stuff, including fishing rods, etc. I’ve had the Craftsman toolbox probably 20 years. Works fine, except I have more tools than that now. The locker below was a sample that a vendor dropped off when I was designing prisons. I have misc power hand tools in there.
05

The drill press is a 3/4 horse, 16 speed ‘King Feng Fu’. I don’t know anything about it other than it was given to my dad as a rusty shell without a motor. I inherited it and it works well for my needs. It also may get the Red Leader treatment.
06

Here is the rest of my workshop. Did I mention that I hate clutter? Well it follows me in here. The band saw and planer are on the end. This also shows the extent of my lighting – two 4’ double fixtures.
07

Above the workbench is my loose hardware drawers and many tools that are used regularly.
08

The workbench is an L-shaped top that puts the miter saw or grinder out from the workbench. It is very convenient, but must go since I need the space for the walkway when the bus moves over to bay #3.
09

Below the workbench is my scrap wood box, Craftsman compressor, more boxes of loose hardware and my Lincoln 140C MIG welder. On the front of the hardware box shelf is a hand drawn ruler to be able to measure bolt lengths.
10

On the left hand side of the opening is where I keep my cordless drill. Yes, is a cheapo HF drill, but it serves my needs.
11

I keep it in place with two 2-1/2” drywall screws with clear hose over the threads. Tuck the tip under the far one and gravity keeps it there, handy and ready to go.
12

The cabinet on the wall is my spray can cabinet. I made it from some 1x6’s I found in trash piles as my neighborhood was being built.
13

The spray paint cabinet is always full of anything tall or not so tall – paints, glues, polishes, etc. The door is a single piece of plywood because I had the idea that when I do build a plane, the panel would be a perfect place to mount the 24x36” plan that I would be working on at that time. Top of the cabinet has some of my antiques. It’s a far cry from what other on GJ have for display!
14

The cabinet below the paint cabinet is just a metal shelving unit with plywood doors installed. Because of the contents, I have the doors and sides vented with screen to keep kids out.
15

This cabinet has car stuff on the top shelf, garden stuff in the middle and tall and other stuff on the bottom.
16

The band saw is a C-Man 12” and it gets a lot of use.
17

The side of the band saw has a piece of plywood and stores the extra blades. The heavy duty cart to the right I believe was the frame of an old 1970’s era copy machine.
18

The planer is a Craftsman 6-1/8” 2 HP planer. I don’t use it as much as I’d like to, but I’m use to having it available when I need it.
19

Behind all this stuff is a heavy duty steel cart with a heady duty 18” Di-Acro roller, metal brake, beader and crimper.
20

The roller has a history…
21

My dad purchased this at the liquidation sale of Eastern Air Lines. He worked for EAL for 35 years and I am thrilled to have a tool like this in my shop. The handle was broken before it was repainted. But the EAL inventory label is still there.
22

To the right is the workbench that I almost live on. It’s a 2’x5’ counter top from my first house, clamped into a shop mate. The $2 yard sale stools are a comfortable height. TV is in easy to see from here. (Notice the VW storage unit?)
23

Lastly, the ceiling… I have two 100-watt bulbs on a switch, fluorescent shop lights on a power strip and two hanging storage racks with wood on this one and hurricane panels on the other. I also have my extension ladder on the ceiling.
24

And that concludes our broadcast for today.
Good night and May the good news be yours!

The Concept…
This is the beginnings of the original plan. I originally had power tools all over the garage and ran extension cords to power them. Now, I am planning on putting all the power tools across the front of the garage and add more outlets up there. I also want to change the small refrigerator to a full-size one.

To reduce the look of being cluttered, I want to add doors or panels in front of the Water Heater, the A/C Unit and the ductwork. This also shows the power tools, a killer clock!, the existing wall cabinets and a larger flat screen TV! Ideas are still working on much of this.

The side walls show a concept where I was planning on buying cabinets. The ones next to the kitchen door is now a built-in. The ones between the hurricane shutters may not be needed. I had to keep the wall space opened for a portion of the wall as that is where the car doors open. If I can keep that area clear, then the car can pull in closer to the wall. Otherwise we may have issues getting the third car in the garage. The workbench side shows a HF 13-drawer toolbox with my C-Man on top. The lawn mower and garden tools will remain at the front by the roll-up door. But the rest is up in the air. There are too many ideas here on GJ for me to nail down my workbench yet. Thanks to jimbob1’s pictures and Red Leader’s sketches, I’m back at square 1.

I apologize on the quality of how these sketches came out. These were done in AutoCAD, but I really need to slow down and learn Sketch-Up to get these to look nicer.

The Wish ListThese are some things still to be done in no particular order:

- Provide built-ins or cabinets to get rid of clutter
- More Lighting
- More electrical receptacles
- More functional workbench
- More storage
- Ceiling mounted air hose reel between the two front doors to allow access to the driveway.
- Ceiling mounted electrical cord reels.
- Remove or eliminate clutter
- Get organized
- Win the Lottery (I have about the same chance as I do getting organized!)
- Get a bigger air compressor
- To have the VW Bus rust free and running (The Lottery idea is looking pretty good now)
- Add a utility sink in the garage
- Finish painting garage – two-tone with stripe (it will be the first one in this neighborhood)
- Ride in a P-51 Mustang
- Ride in a 1966 Batmobile (Both these are on my Bucket List...)

Man Wingnut65, I step away from GJ to grab another beer and BAM, you got your thread up! Great job documenting AS IS! It will be fun for you to look back at it and compare to the new improved future version. It seems as though you have a tool for just about every job that comes along (and some that haven't yet!). I love that metal roller, BTW. Be glad that VW isn't a low-profile sports car or your bulk storage space would be cut in half

You have a lot of stuff there to find permanant homes for in the new improved version, but it sounds like you have a great plan to take care of it. Any plans for a dust collection system to keep the woodworking dust off of the project VW? Or maybe just some type of temporary curtain separating the two? I suggest you spread those new receptacles around in case you end up re-arranging the power tools a couple of times before you figure out their best placement for your working habits. And no one ever says "I have too many outlets".

I would like to hear about the garage floor tiles someday if you get a chance. How are they holding up? Ease of installation? How easy was it to take them apart and rearrange? How do they clean up? Have they faded at all in the FL sun? I may do that in my city garage in a few years when I get sick of looking at the concrete.

Now go get those ceramic tiles installed in the house so you don't have to move them 5 times during the garage redo

Thanks guys. The VW Storage is actually packed right now since I had to get everything off the floor for the tiles to go down. Now I need to figure out if the stuff will be stored in the garage, in the attic, or in my Goodwill trailer at Wally World.

930 dreamer, I'd like a bus with a sunroof, but this is what I have to work with. Wish I could afford a running double-cab while I work on this, but the budget isn't there.

shopnut, I saw how you posts all your's in a few minutes, so I worked in Word and posted when it was ready. Now I've got to make posts for the other milestones completed so far. And the RD tiles are great. The checkerboard was installed in less than an hour and my daughter was the one who took it apart so I could lay the whole thing over the 4th. Not hard. A post will tell all. And for the outlets, I bought a HF 4' power strip that I will start with. If it works, I will have it hard wired and add more on other walls too. Maybe on the front of the workbench as others have suggested.

RL, I hear ya. Try the beach. Its great for catching up on pages of posts

You know I took the time to read the message, resisting the urge to jump to the pretty pictures. And thought I might have made a wise decision when I came across a link for Salt Life with the promise of pretty models... Ah ha, I said, no one else will know about these... It'll be my secret stash... I can oogle these virgin pics and maybe even occassionally post these rarities for my other internet buds, where I'll receive massive congratulations on my unique and beautiful harrom...

Definitely gonna be watching this thread!! I applaud your ability to see the tree in the midst of the forest!! I'm kinda dealing with the same currently, but on a smaller scale! Will be very interested in your storage and organization ideas!!

Thanks Coyote Red. Thanks for resisting the urge. BTW, Link is fixed. Spell check missed that one. (here it is so you don't have to scroll back up 4' or so... http://www.saltlife.com/. There's a tab at the top of the page.)

wolflrv, I hadn't thought about it being a forest, but it sure seems like stuff just appears in the garage that I have to put somewhere. Someone else said that the size of a workbench should be based on how much stuff you want to pile on it. I think the same goes with the size of a garage.

Oh...I won't tell you what I thought the "SaltLife" window sticker said the first time I saw one down on the redneck rivera (which means, of course, I'm "fixin" to tell you even though you did not ask). There was a 30 something woman driving a truck, she looked pretty rough and I may have confused the sytlized "a" for a "u".

I thought..."that is an odd sticker for a woman to have on her car...but it's a free country." I slay me.

On your entry #4 I saw that you had enterred remove and get riid of clutter. Shouldn't that be #1? I am the same way. My wife has told me to get rid of all my junk then cleaning the garage would be easy. Priorites! Women just don't understand us men. Your project is looking great can't wait to see the finished project.

Love the v dub. Had a 64 Kombi with f***you painted on the side. Kombi is the full bench up front with no interior in the back but still got the windows model. Now I've got a 58 single cab. Couldn't afford a double cab.

That sucks you can't have a storage shed. What about one of those short storage 'tubs' with the swing out door, so you can store your mower, and all your yard tools. Kind of just looks like a seat. Hide that in your back yard and no one would even know... Put some seals on it to keep weather and bugs out, and you're set.

This one is a little taller with swing out doors on the front so you can put your mower inside:

Here's a smaller one that would be great for holding your yard tools. I guess this one is called a 'deck box', you can sit on this one:

Wow, it's great to see a real life garage on here. I would love to have a garage like BB 767 and some of the others here. Problem is you either have the time to work out there but not the money or you have the money but not the time. I have 3 little ones with all the bikes, power wheels and "general stuff" I find my garage in various states of "clutter". Keep up the good work! One day I'll try and post some before and after work.

How are you liking the race deck? It is one of the running considerations for my project. It seems that daily I am flip-flopping between porcelain tile, race deck, and just saying screw it and making a floating wood plank floor out there.

iatros: This is a work in progress and will take time. Job and family keep taking my time, which make the Hideout completion further away. So, how's the 3T Garage coming?

flybefree: Shaun, there are many take off's on the 'Salt Life' theme. I've seen 'Salt Wife' and 'Swamp Life' (UF) stickers too. There probably are stickers like what you thought you read.

shopnut: Theme Park Central. Well, when in Rome... I figure that I have to have fun writing this to keep it from becoming a burden to write and even worse to read it. Besides, my girls were probably five before they realized that 'Cuzzin Goofy' really wasn't related to their dad's side of the family. Although he should be!

Dittle Fart Around: I still love your 58 Single and enjoy your posts. At this point, I'd like anything air cooled that actually runs - bus, bug, gia, 911 - anything would be great!

D.J.: Cabinets can have a life of their own. They just keep going from one wall to another. Just look in a Habitat Restore and how they just keep on living. And for the bobbers, it took me a while to find the pic with them. They are easy to use when teaching little ones to fish. Also helps so I don't spill my drink.

SnyperBob and Mpire: I've thought about the storage sheds you mentioned, but not sure I could get one large enough that I would need past the HOA. I have the mower, blower, trimmers and wheelbarrow and hopefully, the hand tools. And, sheds are out. BUT, if I build one attached to the wall with stucco on the outside and shingles on the roof to match the house, I'd be good. That is a consideration down the road. But I do like the simplicity of the one Mpire posted.

fullthrottle24: Thanks for the comments. I've been drooling over other GJ garages for a while, but have to accept that this is where I live now. I am just blessed that I was able to purchase a 3-car garage with the house. We do have plenty of 'general stuff' out there too - garbage cans, recycling, 2 bikes and 2 scooters. Hopefully I will figure out how to fit it all in and still have room to work.

Red Leader: Feel free to use the quote. The girls haven't tested me on it yet, but they are going into sr high soon.

I love the RaceDeck floor. I was impressed with with the customer service Jorgen, Kia and the others at RD provided. The product is great and fits my need - slip resistant floor that I can put down in sections while I moved workbenches, shutters, a VW and lawn stuff. Its only taken me 3 months and 12 hours so far to put it down. I still have 10 sf at the back door and some pieces to finish.

As for the durability and ease of installation that shopnut asked about, no problems with either. When I received the order, I was anxious to see how they worked. So I opened the boxes and installed the 2'x2' sections (packed that way for shipping) in the one bay actually used for a garage. I put them in the standard checkerboard pattern and added the yellow roll-up trim across the front. We used it that way for 11 months and had no slips, stains or fading. A rubber mallet is all that I used to install. To take them apart, I'll post pictures in my flooring post how my daughter took the checkerboard pattern apart by herself so we could do the whole floor. I got a gallon of RD All Purpose cleaner with my floor. Mixed up a spray bottle and hit the bad spots with either a damp mop or towel. No problems.

Vernmotor: Thanks. I don't even want to think about what's in the attic... Another 3-4 pounds up there, too.

I’m not sure when I discovered this or when I started using this phrase, but it is true. Buy a house bigger than you currently have and when you move in, you don’t have enough room to put everything because stuff just multiplies. Clear off a table and the next day it will have stuff on it. And the workbench… I’ve never had it all clean at once. By the time I am halfway done cleaning it, the other half starts to gather stuff again.

This post will explain how a 6 cubic foot cabinet has been replaced with a 40 cubic foot cabinet and it is now full to overflowing. The space created with the new cabinet created a vacuum stronger than the cubic volume available… It just happens.

Sliding Door Storage Cabinet Build…

As I was surfing GJ one day, member ChristopherLutz asked how much weight some cabinets shown in the Family Handyman magazine would hold. The cabinets were about 10’ wide by 4’ tall 24“ deep with sliding door. There was even a picture of two people standing in the built cabinet. Here are the cabinets. (Thanks Christopher. If you had not posted that, I would not have this thread or my handy cabinets.)

I was impressed with the simplicity of the cabinets and how flexible the design could be. I kept this design in the back of my mind as being an option.

The Concept…

In planning my makeover and get rid of clutter, I decided I wanted cabinets to store items. I had to determine what I wanted to be stored in the attic for the occasional or seasonal use and what to keep in the garage for more readily accessible. Our folding sports chairs are used frequently by all family members and my goal for cabinets was to put them in and close the door. That may change in the future, but that was the goal on the size of cabinets I would need. The tallest chair is about 39” tall, so I feel they should be able to fit in a standard 42” tall cabinet with no shelves.

I must always remember that while I remodel my garage to make the ‘Salt Life Hideout’, I must also keep the Minister of Finance satisfied with her garage needs as well. One thing she wants is to be able to actually park her car in the garage. I never did understand that concept, but it is working on me. So, the layout I have come up with allows for her car in the left bay with both driver's side doors able to be opened. So, the cabinets can only be 60” wide, starting from the Kitchen door to allow room for my hurricane panels before the clearance needed for her open car door.

The top view of the cad sketch that I started with shows 42” tall upper cabinets and 36” lowers. I started shopping to see if I could get off-the-shelf cabinets that would fit the need. Both Lowes and HD did not have 42” tall cabinets in stock. Everything would have to be a special order and more expensive than the unfinished cabinets in stock. Also, any cabinet I purchase would most likely have swing doors that would open into a parked car. Not the best solution.

That’s when I came back to the Family Handyman cabinet concept. This is the inspiration and basic plan that I started with.

But, here is where my path changes to make things more complicated. To get the storage space I need, it needs both upper and lower cabinets. . I am building two of these at the same time, one over the other. To this sketch, I will have another set of doors and another bottom frame added below this frame. And, mine will only be two bays wide.

By making my own, I could go all the way to the ceiling. An 8’ tall cabinet (standard lumber size) starting from the ceiling would leave me 12” below it for my jack storage. The spacing of the verticals was loosely based on the existing studs in the wall. This gave me uneven cabinet widths, but that would allow more flexibility with the stuff I have to store in there. Since the spacing has the left side narrower, it became the storage for the chairs.

Always Plan Ahead…

The overall cabinet is 5’ wide by 8’ tall (1.54 meters by 2.43 m) and extends 12” from the wall. The spacing of the shelves was carefully calculated based on the size of existing bottles, cans and stuff that needs to be stored in it. This resulted in the top section being 45” tall and the bottom 51” tall. Bottom shelves were 12-1/2”, 11-1/2”, 11-1/2” and 11” clear. These sizes allowed the storage I needed. The vertical brace is 22” from the left and 38” from the right.

Since there is a vertical brace is a solid plywood panel, it made sense for me to split the doors into 1/3rds and allow about a 1/2” for overlap. The actual door widths were tested with cardboard samples before cutting the plywood. I also learned what direction NOT to cut thin plywood.

If you read though my current garage photos, you will realize that I don’t have a table saw. It is a luxury I just don’t have space for right now. So, for my woodworking projects are built with just a miter saw, a circular saw, a cordless drill and various hand tools. Maybe a little primitive, but its functional with adequate results. OK, these cabinets Rock! Or at least they will be when I replace the OOPS doors I made!

The Build…

Borrowed a pick-up to make a Lowes run. Went there because they had the Iso board I wanted to insulate my garage doors. That will be another story. All plywood for the sides and shelves is 5/8” thick and the doors are 1/4".
01

This is the wall that I started with. The space between the panels and the garden tools is the clearance for car doors. The 6 square foot cabinet on right will be replaced with a new 40 s.f. cabinet. That should be plenty for a while. Not!
02

Old cabinet and shelf over door are removed and studs are located. There are 4 studs on the right at the edge of the door and then 16” on center.
03

Because the drywall will be the back of the cabinet, I wanted to paint the wall before I started. The stud line was transferred to the top of the wall and nails were put in to mark them. I realize now I should have painted the wall and THEN locate the studs. Oh, well…
04

The whole wall is painted the lighter color tan that will be the upper wall color.
05

Then the 2x2 frame members were attached to the wall studs using lag bolts. Since I wanted to maximize the amount of storage, I moved the left side over 6” from the blue tape at the stud. I used a total of seven 3/16” Toggler brand heavy Duty Toggle Bolts (each with 238 lb load capacity) bolted into the drywall for the left side framing.
06

The top, middle and bottom horizontal braces will be pre-built frames that I insert and attach to the wall. Therefore I left a space in the verticals for a horizontal 2x where the frame will go.
07

Here is my very elaborate substitute table saw. I use 2x lumber as spacers off the concrete slab. The plywood to be cut is placed down first. I use another sheet of plywood as my straight edge that I clamped to the cut-ee piece of wood. I made sure my saw blade was deep enough to go through the plywood and not the lumber below in case they get turned and in the way.
08

By having two blocks below the cut-ee, when the saw breaks through the final inch, it is fully supported and doesn’t fall.
09

I got so excited at the way the cabinet was turning out that I forgot to take any pictures until the frame was up. This shows the top, middle and bottom frames in place with the outer two sides in place. The top and middle frames are all 2x2. For the bottom frame, I used a 2x4 for the front piece just for the added strength. If anybody would stand in it to reach higher, this could be a good idea.
10

The top frame is mounted to the back wall and to the ceiling. BUT, this first had to be perfectly level to get the sliding doors to work.
11

Likewise, the middle and bottom also had to be measured off the top frame and be perfectly horizontal.
12

Here is the 2x4 on the bottom
13

Here is a close up of the bottom frame and how I cut the 2x4. This also shows that the left most vertical frame is actually off of the stud were the lag bolt is in the bottom. I figured that a cantilever that much shouldn’t be anything to worry about.
14

The side panels are just 12” wide, cut, glued and fastened. For fastening, I countersunk #10 wood screws.
15

The center panel is only 10-1/2” wide to allow the doors to pass in front. It had to be notched on the back at the top, middle and bottom frames. BUT, I realized at this point that the front horizontal 2x2 that the middle panel is leaning on had to be removed so I could get the middle panel into the frame. Luckily I screwed it in from the front and it came off easily.
16

See, it really does fit.
17

Here’s how it fits in at the top. The 10-1/2” panel also clears the 2x2’s.
18

I actually had to notch both corners on the bottom. This also shows that a 2x2 piece will need to fill in on the face of the bottom panel to support the shelf.
19

To get the bottom frame level, I had to use an old floor jack to get it level before attaching to the center plywood panel.
20

Here is where my OOPS occurred for the doors. When measuring the door sizes I needed and then estimating how to get the most out of the two sheets of 1/4” plywood that I purchased. If I could be creative in the cutting, I could save pieces for another project. BUT, it wasn’t until I installed the doors and let them sit that they started to warp on the grain line. See how the little voices in my head told me to cut the wood ACROSS THE GRAIN??? Well, actually I did cut two doors
21

Doors and shelves were painted on the floor on cardboard and some old 1x shelves. I actually used a 5” roller for all the major painting and a brush for cutting in.
22

Missed a couple photos along the way again, but this shows that there are 2x2’s added for the shelves to sit on. Shelves are not secured in place. In fact this top shelf was removed to fit my paints up there.
23

Here the doors are starting to be installed. The Front door MUST be in the front track in my setup. The two sides are in the back track. Forgot to mention that the door tracks are from our local Woodcraft store (http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/200...-14-Doors.aspx, item 27Q02)
24

This shows that the shelves are 11” deep to allow the doors space to slide past. This also shows the 1x birch face frame that I installed to cover the door tracks
25

For the door pulls, I used 3/4” sliding closet door finger pulls. Please Note that the 1” pulls were too deep to fit in a 1/4” thick door.
26

Before I installed the doors, I rubbed the top and bottom edges of the door panels with wax from an old candle. This helps the doors slide easier.

Here’s how the 3-panel doors are able to work. The right door will slide behind the center one and the front door can slide left or right. It looks better with the face frame installed.
27

Here is the finished product. See how the doors are warped. They rub as they open now. BUT, I bought some 1/4” hardboard (masonite) sheets to make new doors, someday.
28

And this is how the ‘Space-Creates-Vacuum’ concept works… Build it and it will get filled. Quickly! Space for everything. Except there is no space for future purchases. I NEED MORE STORAGE…
29

To keep the chairs in place and not fall out, I installed a 1/4” rope with an S-Hook hooked on an eye bolt on the side panel
30

If anyone wants to build one like this, let me know if there is anything else that may be of assistance.

Very nice headway, Wingnut65. You'll have that garage ship-shape in no time if you keep that up! Great idea to build the cabinet off of the floor. Florida's humidity can play havoc with wood - could some aluminum angle or channel edging be added to straighten those doors without having to redo them someday?

I was trying to find a good source for the sliding door tracks - thanks for sharing the link.

I had a similar problem with storing those hurricane shutters. Before finding some room in an outside closet behind my place, I was contemplating building a rack above my garagedoor to store them, like the one below that's used for pieces of wood. Perhaps something to consider?

I am determined to get everything OFF the floor, so a simple blower can keep the place clean!

And thanks for asking about my place... the struggle continues to get it emptied out and get things out of sight. I'm about to put an order in for some racedeck as well, maybe that will get me moving faster

Wingnut Oh how I hate the humid air in Florida that warps your new cabinet doors! The air in Ohio would never have been so cruel. Neat build, like that the cabinet "floats"... good Salt Life tie in....

Very nice headway, Wingnut65. You'll have that garage ship-shape in no time if you keep that up! Great idea to build the cabinet off of the floor. Florida's humidity can play havoc with wood - could some aluminum angle or channel edging be added to straighten those doors without having to redo them someday?

Thanks shopnut. I don't think aluminum angles would work as the tolerance between the doors and the shelves behind are tight. Anything added to the doors would need to be so thin to fit that they would be too thin for any structural improvements. Someone else on GJ did the same doors with Masonite and had no warpage.

flybefree: Not sure if the warp wacs beacause I temporarily leaned all the plywood against the wall until I could get around to building it, painting the thin doors with latex paint, or maybe our famous humidity. I know its a lot less in Ohio. Do you need some sliding doors in this size?? Maybe they would straighten out up there...

Quote:

Originally Posted by iatros

Wingnut, bonus points for the Bucs chair!
I am determined to get everything OFF the floor, so a simple blower can keep the place clean!

And thanks for asking about my place... the struggle continues to get it emptied out and get things out of sight. I'm about to put an order in for some racedeck as well, maybe that will get me moving faster

iatros: Go Bucs! I'd love to get everything off the floor, but my wall and ceiling space are getting filled up pretty quickly. My hurricane panels are big and heavy. I have a couple 10'+ panels on the ceiling. The rest are so big that each one is heavy and 1) I would need to strengthen the trusses to add a thousand pounds concentrated loads on the ceiling, and 2) it would take more than 1 person to get the panels up there and back down. With them against the wall, its a 1 person job with a hand truck and a cordless drill to get the panels installed. Work on a garage project is always a struggle. Let me know if you would like to see some RD installed.

Because you live in a gated community, I suspect outside storage is not an option. Being a fellow Floridian, I have the storm shutter storage problem as well. I started out standing them up against the wall in the garage, just like you. I wanted more wall cabinets so I stacked them flat on the floor on some concrete pavers. Walking past those razor sharp corners was too much of a safety hazard so I moved them outside.

I originally stacked them on concrete blocks on the ground next to the garage. Unfortunately water collected between the panels and they started to corrode. Now I have them stacked on their sides on a shelf mounted with heavy-duty tubular storage brackets (ladder and patio floor channels for the shutters store below the shelf). The sprinkler system and house water maiin are also down there.

I used all-thread screwed into the wall to keep the panels from falling off the shelf.

If I had to store the shutters inside the garage, I'd probably hang them under my wall of cabinets where I now keep the recycle bins and garage rags.

ChristopherLutz: Leveling the frame was not a problem. Before I tightened the frame to the ceiling, I leveled it out and jammed some popsicle/craft sticks to fill the gap. Tightened it up carefully and it was level. The lower level front to back, but I wanted to make sure it had the same space vertically to the upper frame, before I secured it with screws in the side panel. Bottom was not a real problem either, but by being a 2x4, and 12" off the floor, it was easier to use a jack than to manually persuade it level. The main point of those pictures were to make others aware that one frame relates to the others by having the doors slide between them. They wouldn't slide well if they weren't the same distance apart. BTW, thanks for your post to get me to build this one-off Family Handyman cabinet!

Bob Heine: I hadn't really thought about storing the panels outside. They would probably be safe out back, but I wouldn't want to buy them again if they walked. Your idea of a shelf with all the channels nearby keeps them out of the way and make them handy. Looks like you have them bolted to the wall. That way they won't blow away in a storm... Wait, never mind, They won't be on the shelf in a storm. Thanks for taking the pix for me. And those cabinets look great. I'd love to have a wall of cabinets, but my garage is about 2' too narrow. I should have made the builder widen the garage instead of the dining room, but I like to eat too.

And those cabinets look great. I'd love to have a wall of cabinets, but my garage is about 2' too narrow. I should have made the builder widen the garage instead of the dining room, but I like to eat too.

Wingnut65:
Actually, I have the same problem. Space between the overhead door track and the wall is only 7.5". I made eight cabinets from poor grade 1"x8" pine with 1"x3" nailers in the back. Each cabinet is 30"x30" so I was able to cut 16 identical sides, 16 tops/bottoms and 16 nailers. Home Depot used to sell door packs for their standard Mills Pride cabinets so I used those. Came with european hinges and plastic handles. Made shelves to fit inside the cabinets and mounted them on the same kind of pegs you see inside kitchen cabinets. Just drilled four 1/4-inch holes for each shelf position. A gallon paint can is 6.75" diameter and fits perfectly inside the cabinet, even with the nailer taking up some of the depth. I would use 1"x6" or even 1"x4" pine if the space was shallower. Deep shelves are like black holes in my garage -- once my stuff is more than one item deep, it's invisible (that's why I have a lot of duplicate stuff).

I realized that some of my stuff wouldn't fit in the 7.75" deep cabinets so there are two slightly deeper and taller (42") cabinets. Used 1"x10" pine for those and they are the perfect depth for shop manuals, catalogs and magazines. Home Depot carried door packs for the taller (42"hx30"w) Mills Pride cabinets so I avoided having to make those doors as well. The shelves in those cabinets are permanently screwed in place (they're ripped-down scraps from a dumpster expedition). The garage looks a lot neater with the doors closed -- I'm a hoarder trying to become a hider....

The original owner of this house had the builder make the garage a bit deeper so I have room at the back for some additional standard base and upper cabinets, Like most guys, my stuff expands to fill available storage space. By the time the counter top went on, I had to start on the wall of shallow cabinets.

If you ever win a partial lottery you could install a tankless hot water heater? You and I share the same problem too much stuff too little space. Love the metal roller also, have some DiArco equip at my work. Really can't wait to see your next steps. Thanks

Last edited by couchmechanic; 08-08-2011 at 05:24 PM.
Reason: comment too late

mdbeck1: Yes, the handle of both jacks are removed. The orange HF jack has a 1/4" bolt to lock in the handle and still allow it to twist. I only hand tighten it so I can remove it and stand it up near the garage door track. Then they can both fit under the cabinet. As for the bungee cords, I've had some securing stuff and through time and the heat of the garage, they loose their bungeeness. If the chairs are not tightly held in place, the door will not close or will be stiff to open. Not sure they would work for this case.

A1an: Thanks, neighbor. Hope you've gotten settled in your new place.

Bob: Some more nice pix. I agree that doors help hide all the clutter. I don't hoard, but I do have cool collections of 'valuable property' that I keep gathering! I like your cabinet set-up. My problem is if I would have that many, I'd fill them too. Having the full cabinets at the front would be nice to have. BTW, Nice rides you have. Love the engine on the C3. The C3 is my favorite and is on my bucket list.

couchmechanic: Funny you should mention a tankless water heater. Its in the works. Behind the water heater is the Laundry Room. Earlier this year we had an opportunity to get a second fairly new washer and dryer for a song. My wife always wanted two stacing W&D's. So, when I ripped off the Laundry Room drywall for adding the plumbing, electric and vent, I had a hot, cold and drain lines pushed through the wall and capped behind the water heater. So, whenever the water heater tank decides to give up its life, we will go with a tankless and I get a utility sink. Problem is with these newer tanks, it'll probably last another 15 years.

1991Syclone: Great idea, but I've got a lot already happening on the ceiling to go and take up that much space. I will be having some projects where I need the head room. Besides, I've got a tall attic still to fill.

A1an: Those are great cabinets. I will consider them before I go much further. And for your shop, give it time... When I think I have my plans all set, someone posts another cool idea that I want to include. I've found that I don't find time for anything, I must make it. Set an hour a week, half an hour a night, just make some time for positive garage progress. At the end of the week, you could be 2-3 hours further along than if you wait for the time to come to you. Good Luck with it.

mpire: You are disciplined! Usually I am thrilled if I can get all the tools in the garage before the rain. I really should treat them with WD40. I DID sharpen all my shovels last year! Does that count?

shopnut: Thanks for noticing. Sort of an 'Inspiration' shot... I took the photo a while ago and tried to make it into an avatar when I started this thread, but the programs I have won't save it compressed enough. I had to use an online avatar maker. Works great. Now I want to work on the bus, too.

Gettin' thangs done! I like it!
Great job on the cabinet build. Whats next?

Quote:

Originally Posted by iatros

Whats the latest update on SaltLife?? I need some more motivation lol

Thanks for asking...

Next up…

Spray Paint Cabinet Build…

In this build, I created a cabinet that fills what normally would be wasted space. Maybe others can use this concept to gain more storage for stuff. Not just any stuff, but Garage Stuff!

Most time consuming part was the design and planning. Spacing of the shelves was based on spray paint cans. I measured all that I had and planned the shelf spacing accordingly. On my ‘Before’ cabinet, I had only one shelf for those ‘Bonus Size’ spray cans. Now I can fit them in.

This is what I started with. Majority of the contents is spray paint, but if its tall or short, liquid or powder or dried solid in the can, it’s probably in here – paints, glues, stains, lubricants, polishes, etc. This cabinet was born out of necessity when I moved in and needed a place to store stuff. I made it from some 1x6’s I found in trash piles as other houses in my neighborhood were being built. A 1x6 will allow stacking of two spray cans deep. The door is a 24x36” single piece of plywood to act as a bulletin board if needed.
01

Here is the ‘Before’ shot. Besides the clutter, I just don’t like looking in the garage and seeing the water heater and the A/C unit.
02

Here is my plan to fix this area. I want to put doors across the water heater and the A/C unit to conceal it. (There will be a vented panel above the gas water heater.) But, someone here gave me the idea of putting shelves on the inside of those doors for added storage. Great! More free storage that doesn’t take up floor or wall space! But, the middle section is the A/C return air duct where THIS project takes place. (In the photo, the dashed lines are doors, pointing toward the hinges)
03

At the bottom, there is about 5-1/2” from the face of the plenum box below and the duct.
04

The top of the duct offsets to miss a truss. So, the sketch shows that I can only extend up to this angle. BTW, this is actually insulation wrapped around a sheet metal duct. It has no structural integrity and it’s easy to perforate.
05

Here are my supplies for framing this cabinet and the other two doors that I am planning. (Also, this was RaceDeck layout concept 1)
06

The left side will be the just the side of the cabinet and a 1x6 is fine. The right side will also be the hinge point for the A/C door. I used a 2x6 for that vertical to carry the load of storage shelves on the inside of the door. I added bracing in the attic between trusses and added plenty of #10 screws into it. This 2x will be carrying a load and needs to be secure.
07

Since the duct is not perfectly plumb, in order to get the top shelf to fit and the cabinet to be plumb, I had to pull the bottom out a little.
08

Nest step, the shelves…
09

Once I measured and marked the shelf spacing on one side, I held a shelf in place with spring clamps while I leveled them. I then secured with 3 screws per side.
10

The shelves are done and ready for the back of the cabinet.
11

Due to my spacing I needed, the top shelf actually went above the angle on the ductwork. So, I had to plane down the top corner to make it.
11

The doors are 5/8” plywood. I painted everything from a spare can I had. The wall colors will be painted on the face when the other two doors are finished. This also shows how critical my planning had to be. Since I will have the hinge side of a door on the right, I need these doors to open and not swing outward into the other door. So…
12

…On each door, I used 3 surface mounted hinges for frameless cabinets. First time I’ve tried these and they were not that bad. The hardest part was the doors had the Florida humidity warp started and they were not straight when standing open. I guess through time they have accepted their place in this world and have conformed to my wishes.
13

Here is the finished product! I wish it could have been bigger, but that’s all the space I had available. And remember… Space Creates Vacuum!
14

HINGE LOCATION NOTE: I must also note that I wish I had loaded the cabinet before mounting the hinges. All I did was to mark the center and then measured in from the top and bottom and mounted them. With these hinges, they need someplace to go when they close. Now, I can’t have tall cans where the hinges are or they will be pushed in when the door closes and jump out of the cabinet when opened. I learned that one quickly! If I would do this again, the hinges would be mounted immediately below the middle and lower shelf and possibly above the top shelf. But if you plan this in your shop, maybe you could use more traditional hinges that would not cause a problem.

Thanks for all the great comments and ideas the GJ members have been offering. These are helpful to me and others.

Wingnut...we have to end this warping madness...can you frame the doors with a little 1 x 2...maybe use some pocket screws to hold it all together and paint the frame with a contrasting color? Would something like that stop the warping you think?

Wingnut...we have to end this warping madness...can you frame the doors with a little 1 x 2...maybe use some pocket screws to hold it all together and paint the frame with a contrasting color? Would something like that stop the warping you think?

Shaun

I was thinking about this warping thing too. It might be cool to frame out "Salt Life Hideout" in trim board and paint it as a "theme" anchor point for the garage. The lettering should give it enough stability to not warp....just an idea..

A1an: If I give you permission, then it wouldn't be stealing, so I won't and you'll have to steal. It took a lot of thinking about every wall in my garage and how to get the most out of the space. It works for me, hope it does for you, too. I think this lumber was from HD. Took a while sorting through the rack to find a couple that I would accept. If I wasn't so cheap, I'd buy the better quality wood.

1991Syclone: Exactly. Took me a while, but I found enough for the project.

flybefree: I think I am to blame for some of it. For a while, the only acreage I had to store plywood was leaning against the wall. That probably added the sag in the middle. These doors I really wanted a smooth finish. But a frame on the inside might still work. I will have this solved on the next two doors - they will be reinforced big time!

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolflrv

I was thinking about this warping thing too. It might be cool to frame out "Salt Life Hideout" in trim board and paint it as a "theme" anchor point for the garage. The lettering should give it enough stability to not warp....just an idea..

wolflrv: Not a bad idea! I hadn't thought about making a 3-D Logo. I did think about painting it on the side wall. I had been planning on having the front of the garage clean with flush smooth doors. I would continue the 2-tone paint and accent stripe across all the doors and cabinets to make them disappear. But, I like your idea. This cabinet and the right door will be flush and in the same plane. Putting the SLH logo there would strengthen all the doors. Thanks for mentioning it. I might owe you one!

Jeff, I've been fighting the Florida warping problems for more than 35 years. In my first Florida house I tried Masonite for the sliding doors and it was horrible. Not sure if it was the tempered kind or not but they were far more warped than your plywood panels. Mine were obviously too big (47"x48") but they actually bowed out - and in - to form an 'S'. I even put them in the driveway with 2"x10" planks and concrete block to try to flatten them. That's why my current garage has the laminate-covered doors. My next cabinet (for the garage electronics) will be MDF.

Those European hinges have grown on me over the years but I hated having the cabinet doors start snapping - followed by flopping - when the hinges wore out. Between the kitchen, bathrooms and garage there are about 120 hinges and every year one or two go bad. I hate to buy a whole new hinge when only the moving part is bad. I found Specialty Supplies in Pompano Beach, FL that sells the individual pieces. Every five or six years, I go there and buy a dozen pieces. The first set ran about $0.80 each but last time they were close to $1.50 each. Still better than paying more than $5.

Ole Red: Welcome to the Salt Life Hideout! Glad you stopped by. Feel free to jump in any time. I can still make room for your Stude in there... Nice wagon!

Bob: We've had a lot of humidity this week, and I mean it was think - 4" yesterday and 3" today. For the doors, a while ago, I discussed with 28HopUp about the hardboard doors he put on his workbench and he had great success. Since my 1/4" didn't last, I figured I would give masonite a try. My biggest door is 21-1/2". Now that you bring it up, I may just store mine in the attic until I'm content or need to change back. For the hardware, I haven't had any problems with the ones in my house. Thanks for the info on Specialty Supplies - http://www.specialtysupplies.com/ I've got to save their address. I guess I wasn't aware I could buy just the pieces. I DID learn something new today!

walker450: Thanks for the comments. I've been helped many times by other member's builds and the steps they went through. I want to offer the same step-by-step documentary for you and others as well. I've heard that some members with build threads a couple years old are amazed to go back and read from page 1. Its hard even for me to remember what my garage started like before I built the cabinets. Hang around long enough and I'll keep posting.

Great job of squeezing out some extra storage while cleaning up an unsightly area. From the picture it looks like you could put another similar cabinet on the left side of the duct between the paint cabinet and the hot water heater

Looking good WN65 Can you just reposition those hinges to solve your spray can clearance issue? With three on each door, you should be able to move one at a time without even taking the door off.

Also...
I know you have a master plan in your head for using all the space, but let me offer a quick suggestion for a small spot you may not have planned out yet. How about installing some short sections of 4" PVC pipe up there extending back to the wall in the nook above the new spray can cabinet for storing longer supplies like all-thread and such? You could also build a cubby out of wood, but pipe is pretty quick. This shows what I'm thinking of:

mikeytint: Squeezing is what it's about. Before this morning, I was planning on putting up a plywood back board and move my hanging stuff from the left to the right. When I put up the new door there, it will reduce the space I have for hanging. But another cabinet may work. Now I have to reconsider other options. I may wait until after I put the door up to see how much shelving space that will provide.

sscustom: Thanks. It's a work in progress. I'm trying to update this build thread in my spare time between work, sleep, eat and family. I should have some more to post in a day or so.

shopnut: Between you and mikeytint, I have to reconsider this area. I have a 6" wide space I started to block off, but your suggestion makes too much sense. I've been wondering where my long verticals will eventually go and this is an option. I may even use square downspout to get the most of the space. (see how an idea can improve...?) I may still have room below for a cabinet or my hanging thingys. (try using that word flybefree!) For moving the hinges, i was thinking that if it works as is, I'd just leave it, but it doesn't completely. Someone posted on GJ a round-tuit. I guess I should get one and just do it.

Thanks md, now I have no excuse on going out and moving those hinges this weekend. Either that, or I need to work on more excuses... Thanks for posting. I'm going to use it.

shopnut: Gutters and downspouts are very versatile products. And they are cheap enough.

flybefree: Thanks for educating us. "..cannot be specifically designated or precisely described." That sounds like my workbench!. And I also have a box of whatchamacallits and I still have my dad's thingamajigs.

Recently I completed putting Blue Iso Board insulation panels in my garage door. The insulation has helped well in the cold weather and has reduced radiant heating coming in through the doors.

I have a three car garage with one 16’ double-wide door and one 8’ single door. When I was shopping around and considering my options for products to use, I decided to use the 3/4” Dow/Styrofoam rigid insulation board (the blue stuff) that I got at Lowe's, mainly for the lightweight, ease of use and cost - Six panels at $12.00 each came out to be less than $80.

Here is the single wide door before it received insulation. The double wide is the same, only different!

And, here it is after it was completed. I eventually painted the white exposed edges of the door to match the panels.

The double wide door took a while to complete all the needed measurements and cuts, but it turned out like this; (I had only painted a few of the window frames by this time)

The secret to the apparently seamless installation and achieving full panel coverage, is figuring out where to make a seam. So, I hid it… The cut is behind the horizontal door brace. See it is blue..

I created a full thread on the build process – what I did, why I did it that way, what I learned, how I figured out how to measure inside the door panels. I don’t want to bore those that have already see it by re-posting everything, but all the steps to the process are posted here: DIY Garage Door Insulation

Then Red Leader came along with the creative idea to paint the door hardware black, to match colors he was using. I really had not thought about using black as an accent until I realized that 45% of my floor tiles are black. So, I painted anything metal on my garage door flat black, including the door and opener tracks. I also had to finish painting the metal edges of the door frame around the panels the same color as the panels. (A floor tile install post is in the works...)

Thanks RL for the idea. I am happy with the results. But now I am finding other exposed metal that needs to be black, like the attic access ladder hardware…

I hope this DIY Door Insulation Install process can help others who want to try the same, or can give ideas of how to improve your garage or workshop

Man that looks fantastic! You guys are invited to come hang out in my garage if you ever plan a trip to Bakersfield.?
Wow the details make the difference. Did you use brush or spray for the highlights on the door?
Have you noticed a temp difference since adding the insulation?

couchmechanic: Thanks, and thanks for the invite. If I make it back to Bakersfield, I'll give you a heads up. The details do improve the overall package. I wouldn't have thought about it if RL hadn't brought it up. Yes, I have noticed the difference in heat coming off the door - much less than without it! I used the 97₵ cans of flat black from Home Depot. Six cans down on the big door...

I'll post a few painting process photos next.

Red Leader: Thanks, Dave. Your garage is really taking shape. Give it time, taking small steps, it will get done. The girls have helped beg time with putting down the tile floor. The have painted some on the storage projects. They haven't been interested in me starting them on the power tools yet. Maybe they will help on other projects. But they have been watching it all as I work...

Suprman: Welcome to the Hideout. Thanks for stopping by. I'm trying to post progress as time, work and family allow.

flybefree: Do yourself a favor and paint the pieces before the door is assembled. This was time consuming. If I had heard of this before, when I took the horizontal braces off to put in the insulation, I could have painted without any taping off anything. Now I know!

OK, so here is how I got the black paint on the door hardware and not on the panels...

Painting The Door Hardware…

This is what the hinges (and track) looked like before I attacked them with my rattle can...

I have two pieces of corrugated cardboard that I slide in behind the horizontal door braces. Since they really weren't as long as I needed for a couple spots, I just taped newspaper to the bottom to hang lower. On the bottom, I cut a notch in a cereal box to slide over the exposed door between the cardboard pieces.

I then taped around the top and bottom of the hinge. Here for the top, I used some tape that I have been using and was already in the correct profile. The tape on the bottom really could not be salvaged for me and I make it fresh every time.

Then I sprayed it all flat black. I stopped well before the edge of the cardboard to prevent overspray (learned that the hard way). I sprayed the hinge and the top and bottom of the brace two coats.

After a few minutes, I carefully remove the tape and the cardboard to see how it turned out.

And I learned another lesson... that tape that I re-used because it was the correct profile... well the tackiness of the tape was also old and didn't exist. Looks like I have touch-up work to do...

Now that should be enough and time to move on, but I guess I like to punish myself with the details... I didn't like the overall black look. This is not how it would look if I took the hinge off to paint it...

I went back to the hinges with a fine paint brush I have for model building and I painted the holes the door color. And, Yes, I did paint the foam in the hole, black. I don't know why, I just did it. NOW I like it!

Yes, it took time to paint each section, move the cardboard, paint again, etc... But the results speak for themselves!

You build this great cabinet for spray can storage, but you find that once it's loaded, you still have a dozen odd cans of paint that won't fit in the new cabinet. So you decide to completely abandon all of your plans and goals in an impossible effort to utilize these evil cans of paint that are destroying your ability to become completely organized!!

FOCUS!!! FINISH THE WALL!! ENCLOSE THAT UGLY WATER HEATER AND AC UNIT!!

I don't know what to say! Between your garage build, Red Leader, and Jack Olsen, I am hooked on this Garage Journal thing! I have spent waaaay too much time reading through these threads and have learned so much. It has inspired me to start documenting my very meager but fun build and actually start posting it, so thank you!

I don't know what to say! Between your garage build, Red Leader, and Jack Olsen, I am hooked on this Garage Journal thing! I have spent waaaay too much time reading through these threads and have learned so much. It has inspired me to start documenting my very meager but fun build and actually start posting it, so thank you!

To think that Wingnut and I are mentioned next to Mr. Olsen is quite the compliment!

So you decide to completely abandon all of your plans and goals in an impossible effort to utilize these evil cans of paint that are destroying your ability to become completely organized!!

wolflrv: You caught me. But, SEE, Its working... Six cans down so far!

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolflrv

FOCUS!!! FINISH THE WALL!! ENCLOSE THAT UGLY WATER HEATER AND AC UNIT!!

Still working towards it. I've got my Round-Tuit, now all I need is time! This Saturday I helped take down a dead 35' oak tree at church. Small crew and rain delay made it an 8 hour project. This week I need to keep open for getting the girls ready for school. I don't know what that means, but I will be available.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobcat719

I don't know what to say! Between your garage build, Red Leader, and Jack Olsen, I am hooked on this Garage Journal thing! I have spent waaaay too much time reading through these threads and have learned so much. It has inspired me to start documenting my very meager but fun build and actually start posting it, so thank you!

Bobcat719: Wow! Thanks Bobcat. I agree with RL, being mentioned in the same sentence as the masterful Jack Olsen is a great honor.

Welcome to GJ! You have discovered the vacuum of GJ... time just disappears when you start surfing! There are so many great shops here that I browse to see how I can make their ideas fit in my shop. Some of my projects are ideas I copied from other GJ members - sliding door cabinet, black paint on the garage door, RaceDeck floor... the ideas just keep coming. We always seem to ask ourselves - "WWJD?" As in "What Would Jack Do?"

And just between you and me, I started my project last April, but I didn't want to show all my clutter and mess to everyone. It took me getting a few projects finished before I realized that I had to post the 'Before' shots so the new builds can be fully appreciated. You can do the same. Start with small steps and try to make a little progress each week. You will be amazed at what will get done. It's hard for me to remember life in my shop in the 'Before' shots. Feel free to post a few shots here if you would like. Good Luck on your build.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Leader

Wingnut...
wow...
I didn't realize how much that hinge painting sucked for you!
I'm sorry, I know it's my fault
If it makes you feel any better, the hinge painting is sucking for me too
I guess all we can do is tell ourselves it will be worth it in the end.
Based on your picture, I'm a believer!

Red Leader: Be a believer! It isn't all that bad. 2-3 minutes to adjust the cardboard and tape, spray and move on. Yes, It is all your fault in helping to put the finishing details on my place. And a heartfelt thanks.

And Dave, I agree with you regarding Mr. Olsen - We're Not Worthy, We're Not Worthy, (Visions of Wayne's World just went by)

Wingnut, time on GJ is not wasted...it's preparation! If I have only 6 hours to chop down a tree I will spend 4 hours sharpening the ax...or something like that. This certainly counts as ax sharpening...so says I.

It's taken me a while to sharpen my ax, I mean typing this post with many interruptions and honey-do's, but here goes...

Please remain seated at all times as this ride is in constant motion!..

Next Up, The Salt Life Hideout gets lights! Lots of them…

Lights! Camera! Action… No, just Lights

I have never understood the building codes that I work with daily. Code requires “A” light in a garage. (It might even be 1 light per 2 cars.) I have a 3-car garage and therefore the contractor was very generous with providing 2 ceiling mounted light sockets with 60-watt bulbs in them. Hey, it met code and they received a C.O.!

So, when we moved in and I realized the contribution the contractor provided us in the way of lighting, or lack thereof, I changed the two 60 watt bulbs (120 watts total) to now be two 100 watt bulbs (200 watts total)! Wooo Hooo, we had light. OK, We had MORE light!
01
(This is an ofishal ‘Before’ shot, before anything was done in there.)

The improved illumination helped in the overall garage, but the workbench needed more light. That way I can see my mistakes when I make them! So, I re-hung my old double 4’ two-bulb shop lights that I mounted to a 2x4 that I built for my old shop.
02

But the joy of all this extra light sure didn’t last long… Nine years later… I finally had the opportunity to do something about it.

I knew I wanted to add fluorescent lights, I started by laying out the new fixture locations with the infamous blue painters tape. I moved a couple a few times till I was satisfied. But then I had to wait for the budget to be funded.
03

The front of the garage near the door was always dim. So the layout that I came up with has lights that are over the end of the garage door when its open to still allow light to filter through the door windows. I wanted a lot of light over the power tools for safety and accuracy.
04

My lighting upgrade came to be a reality at this time, because the Minister of Finance wanted a second washer and dryer in the laundry room. (that is another project in itself) I have a friend at church that is a licensed electrician and had him come and pull the wire for the 220 for the new dryer. Since we were going to all the effort of pulling wire from the attic down to the panel for the dryer, we pulled extra wires for up to four additional circuits for the garage. And those additional lines came from the laundry room budget!

When it came time to install, I also marked where the trusses are so we could plan out wire runs.
05
(I put the old plywood that I had leaning against the wall in the early pix up in the attic for flooring. Since I screwed it down, we needed to plan our wire ways to make the install easy.)

I had considered using some old shop lights I bought at a garage sale for $5 for six fixtures. But they were used T12 bulbs and magnetic ballasts. Since both of those will be discontinued in the near future, I could either buy a case of bulbs and extra ballasts and then try to find a place to store them. But I was the one that asked the question if I could mount shop lights flush against the ceiling or if spacers were needed. To solve all my issues, I decided to pull the trigger and get all new fluorescent fixtures with the more energy efficient T8 bulbs with magnetic ballasts. I explained this all to Mrs. Wingnut and received approval, if I could find them affordable.

I ended up going with an economical flush mounted wrap-around 4’ 2-bulb Lithonia fixture from HD
06
These are economy fixtures, but I saw a couple that were even cheaper that I would not want in my garage.

Installation Day finally arrives… 11 fixtures are ready to go up…
07

08

09

I let the Boss do all the connections. Did I mention that we were breaking them into two switches? Wiring and circuits are the parts where I want the professional to do it:
10

I decided to keep the existing two 100-watt lights on the existing switch. That way they can be used to just run out to the garage on an errand. The fluorescents are for times that we actually want to see what we are doing… The new switches will be on the wall to the right.
11

Took the Boss up in the attic to drill through not one, but TWO horizontal 2x just above the box location (at the blue tape marks in the photo above). (Murphy’s Law or something…?)
12

We Have Lights!

To get the amount of light that I wanted, I used Daylight bulbs. It turned out great, but now I think I need SPF 30 to work in my own garage.
My daughters say that now, the garage is as light as Heaven. I think it’s getting close!
13

Switch 1 has 7 lights
14

Switch 2 has the remaining 4 lights.
15

Don’t ask me why that breakdown. I knew I wanted half the lights on each, but both over the workbench and some over the power tools on one switch

Another lighting feature I added while the electrician was here, was a motion sensor light. This way, when I come home late and the garage door has been open and the light had timed out already, I can still find my way to the kitchen door. We ran a line from the garage door opener receptacle over about a foot and added another light fixture socket. In this socket is a screw-in 360˚ motion sensor.
16

But, for some reason, I don’t always trip the motion portion of the sensor. Even jumping up and down doesn’t make it work. Here, I had to walk out into the garage to take this picture… See, No Worky!
17

I haven’t decided what to do about the temperamental nature of the motion light, but it really isn’t bothering me one way or the other. But the first stubbed toe and it is toast!

As I bring this post back to the station and start to plan the next Big Adventure, I must say that I love the added lights. My neighbors have noted the new glow coming out the garage door windows.
18

This is just one of many ways to solve the lighting problem. Nothing really new here that hasn’t been done before, but it is a major improvement for the Salt Life Hideout!

Great lighting is important, not only because it adds a lot of value to a shop, but is a safety issue as well. When I had my one little bulb out there, I was tripping over all kinds of stuff

Good call on getting someone to come in and help with electrical. It seems as though I shock myself just enough to remember why I don't do electrical for a living. All it takes is a little grab on the two posts of an outlet and I receive the gentle reminder that I shouldn't be doing this

Speaking of shocking...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wingnut65

And those additional lines came from the laundry room budget!

Haha...so, the million dollar question: Did she know? That is so funny it should be a crime. We all have good wives. I'm glad they are such good sports.

I did the same thing as you, I put different lights on different circuits and different switches so I could have a little more control. It seems when I go out there, most of the time I just flip them all on, but, lighting control is important! After all, when people want to do a photo shoot of their classic car in your garage for a magazine spread, its important to have the right lighting. Not out of the realm of possibility! At least that's what I tell myself

All in all, great great update, and a very important one.

I don't know if I'm being too forward here, but I have a suggestion: I think one of the next 'missions' you should undertake is to remove everything around the VW bus and clear it's path. It will streamline things a little and even more importantly, get that VW bus more accessible and add some motivation to start working on it

Jeff I just stumbled onto your thread tonight and honestly have only read the last page so far . I did note your issues with your motion light and thought I would mention my new Craftsman garage door opener has a feature built into it so that if you break the beam on the door sensors it turns the light on . This might be an option for you or they make remote sensors that your electrician could mount near the main overhead door so that when something or someone passes it it turns on the light .

Red Leader: I agree with having the spousal support. I would not be doing this much in here if the Minister of Finance didn't support the mission. Electricity is one thing that I know when I don't know enough. Adding another outlet or two and changing out switches is no problem. But when there are three wires and each light gets connected to the opposite color and make two switches work without knocking out the whole neighborhood, I call the pro's. As for the magazine shoot, I may need to add a few more fixtures... BTW, of the 12 houses on our street, we have a '67 vette and a '67 mustang convertible. When I'm finished, I've thought about allowing them to park in my garage for a few photos. See, I can dream, too!

RL and DFA: The bus is getting higher on the project list. In the past, it did seem to get buried, but Photo 13 shows where it sits today. There are only sheets of plywood on the floor between the bus and the SUV. My problem is all the stuff that I had to pack into the bus so I could get the floor done. I'd like to spend time on the bus soon to continue tear down and to put together my wish-list for the upcoming VW weekend here in November (Bulli-Brigade on Saturday and Bug Jam on Sunday) I can shop for parts without paying shipping.

rickairmedic: Welcome to the hideout. Glad you found it. Sometime go back and hit the other pages to see what ideas I stole from other members. I had not heard about the sensor beam tripping the light on newer openers. We put up the Genie screw drive when we moved in 10 years ago. I like it because it is the fastest on the block. I can push the button and walk out without hitting my head on a slow door. But you now have me thinking on the sensor at the door to activate the light. That would solve the problem. Maybe I can upgrade the opener with one with the new features. Thanks for mentioning it.
And for the bu

WOW! Nice lighting upgrade Wingnut. Leaving a low power lighting circuit out there for a quick trip to grab something is a good idea too. No sense wasting electricity.

I use the daylight bulbs too and have been very happy with them. Some people like a warmer light for a cozy feeling. Not me - I prefer my shop to remind me of an operating room for surgery on the vehicles . Plus my eyes ain't getting any better!

I prefer my shop to remind me of an operating room for surgery on the vehicles .

Thanks for the compliments, shopnut. I did forget to mention that with all the lights on, I don't have any noticeable shadows in the garage. Operating room is another way of looking at it. It will be great to actually work in the garage instead of building it!

Nice updates! I really like the amount of light out there! I had only thought I would need two of those fluorescent lights out there, time to rethink that idea....anyhow, keep up the good work, it is making me want to keep going on mine for sure!

Rick: I am definitely going to rethink the lighting then. I am also going to do that top down schematic drawing (which is wicked by the way!) and play with some layouts, that drawing really opened up my eyes to the amount of choices there really are.

Bobcat719: Thanks for the comments. The Journal is a great place to get ideas on what to do with your own shop. But let me warn you (as you have already found out yourself)... hang around here long enough and the plans you have for your place will change, possibly several times. But that is not a bad thing. It means you have really thought about what you want in your shop. Every plan change you have will give you something better than the plan before! For my lights, I bought (6) 4' garage sale shop lights that I was going to mount a couple where my existing bulbs were and didn't know what I would do with the others. But as time went on, my plans changed and I then needed to just wait until the time was right. If my wife hadn't wanted the second washer and dryer, my electrician would not have been at my house and I would still be waiting for lights.

As for the floor plan, it's the best way to lay everything out so you can see if everyghing fits. The easiest way to start is to get 1/4" graph paper, measure your garage and then put it on the graph paper using one square being 1 foot. I measured my band saw, drill press, A/C, doors, etc and put them on the plan. Give it a try and have fun planning out your place. Time and money will eventually come to get it all done. But if you don't dream and plan now, it won't happen in the garage later. Good Luck on your shop.

rickairmedic So, Rick, are you opening an Operating Room?? Actually, eight fixtures in a 2-1/2 car garage probably still has some open ceiling space. If you don't mount lights, it will probably get filled up with storage stuff... Go for it!

Don't blame me on the "Salt Life Hideout" Logo idea. It was wolflrv that brought it up a few pages back:

Quote:

Originally Posted by wolflrv

..It might be cool to frame out "Salt Life Hideout" in trim board and paint it as a "theme" anchor point for the garage. The lettering should give it enough stability to not warp (the cabinet doors)...just an idea..

So I got thinking as to what the "Salt Life Hideout" cut out or framed out of wood would look like. And I realized that the only way is to make it all the same. I didn't invent the "Salt Life" logo or font (darn!), but a little tracing paper and a couple shots later, and a matching "Hideout" was created. So the credit for the idea goes to wolflrv (Thanks )

If you want to try an easy way to create word logo, Google "Free Fonts" and see all the variety of fonts available to install on your computer. Some websites have a place to type sample words and try various fonts to see what they will look like. I can just imagine the weird and bizzare fonts that can be used to creat an "Asylum" logo.

BUT... any logo created using a creative font in a word document will need to be converted into an image file (.jpg, .bmp. etc) to be able to upload to GJ.

Glad I could get others to start thinking outside of the garage on ways to improve your own garage theme. Good Luck!

Just wanted to say thanks for the advice on my thread. I am completely jealous of your VW project, I have been trying to find one forever and you get one for FREE! Also, I envy your carpentry skills.. I have that same band saw and look forward to crafting some awesome cabinetry like you have. I will also be taking your painting advice for the garage door when I get that far! Again, thanks for the input on my thread!

wolflrv: Sounds like we really started something with your idea... Thanks again for making me think your idea out.

tinbender: Great ideas do that to people. Right now, I'd just like to have any VW that actually runs. A Bug would be fun. I had a '72 Beetle (same color as yours) back in High School but never got it back on the street after we got it after an engine fire. I'd really like a double cab pick-up, but they are getting expensive. DFA has a nice single cab that I also keep eying.

Jkaz: You are welcome. That's one nice part about having a thread on GJ, post ideas and progress and you will get plenty of other ideas, suggestions and advice in reply. Some of which are actually useful! In fact, the idea for my logo was from a comment a few pages back on how to keep my plywood cabinet doors from warping in our humidity. Take the advice and use what you can. For the Bus, I can't wait to get working on it. I brought it home in 200# and still haven't finished tear down. Now with progress of the shop, I may get to do more on it this year. For my woodworking, I was fortunate to grow up with a 2-car workshop with a talented father. I learned to look to the end product and then figure out how to get there with the tools that you have. Thus my creative plywood cutting technique with clamps and a circular saw. Putting everything together to make it work is just the perfectionist in me. Glad some of my ideas and those of others can help you with your shop. Take notes of ideas as you surf and see where you can fit them in. Good Luck on your cool project. I did subscribe!

Looking good with the lights! Great job. Do they attract any bugs at night when your in the garage? Just coureous, over here plenty of bugs, makes it hard to work into the night until our winter season.

couchmechanic: Thanks, cm! I have not really noticed many bugs at night, other than our state bird, which I swat and keep working! When I only had the shop light, there were the flying beetles that would come visit. I don't know if its that there is so much light that there is no single source to attract them, or that I am using the daylight bulbs. I have more wasps come by during the day than bugs at night. Raid takes care of them...

They sell screens large enough to cover double garage doors . I got mine at Harbor freight and after 5 years had to break down and buy a new one . They are usually less than $30.00 and work great . We have plenty of the Florida state birds in Kentucky and I know what they look like I grew up in Carrolwood . We dont however have Palmetto bugs which I dont mind at all .

That's what I was referring to. We don't get that many cranes in the garage. The Florida Cranes Bob mentioned, I have noticed are seasonal and seem to disappear when the economy is down.

And, Rick, Carrollwood and Northdale are my stompin grounds! I haven't seen as many palmetto bugs here as we had in Miami. But those skeeters can carry a person away... They haven't been bothering me enough to get a screen yet, but I've seen them on the shelf. Thanks for bringing it up.

Jeff I was going back through your thread again this morning and I have another freeby for you . I saw where you are enclosing the water heater and air handler and in those pics I noticed your secondary overflow drainline from your air handler that comes out past the front of the base of the unit . Go downtown to Marcone appliance parts and tell them you need an " inline safety switch for your condensate drain " . You can then do away with 95% of that secondary drainline and add the inline safety switch to the drain . The switch has 2 wires comming from it those wires go where the yellow wire in your thermostat wires goes inside the air handler . Shut off power to the air handler and take the front doors off . Then find where your thermostat wires hook up to the unit . Take the yellow wire loose and hook it to one of the wires comming from the safety switch . Then take the other wire comming from the switch and put it where the yellow wire used to go . This will shut down your AC if the main drainline ever gets clogged and tell you theres a problem . The way its set up now you will only notice theres a problem when you go out to the garage and find a HUGE puddle infront of the air handler on the floor .

This is what it will look like although the one you get from Marcone may be a little differant this gives you the general idea .

...I also want to change the small refrigerator to a full-size one...
- More functional workbench
- More storage
- Add a utility sink in the garage

Jeff,
You mention upgrading to a full-size refrigerator. If you upgrade from your cube-size to under-counter size, you could extend the counter for the workbench and incorporate a drop-in laundry sink. I already had an upright freezer but when it came time for a refrigerator, I chose one of those 35.5" tall ones.

If, unlike me, you follow the Jack Olsen rule that all bench surfaces are at the same height, your back wall counter height could establish the standard -- a few inches higher than a kitchen counter. I find those to be just a little too low.

rickairmedic: That is a great idea. I was not familiar there was such a product until your post. That sounds like a definite possibility. I've always been worried if it would overflow on a weekend when we were gone. We do crank up the temp to over 80 just to keep the house at a reasonable temp. This would solve that concern. Thanks.

Bob Heine: Great idea, but... There is no plumbing on that side of the A/C unit. And, I already have plumbing stubbed out behind the water heater for a utility sink. Putting it anywhere else would mean digging the floor. Also, the full size fridge is a request from the Mrs. to have for overflow at holidays and parties. There have been several times we use ice chests in the house because the fridge is maxed out. A full size will hold beverages most of the time for me, but spill over for her as needed. It works for me.
Although, getting a second under counter size may also work. For the counter tops, I'm flexible. Now I've got old kitchen cabinet height. It may get higher to fit more storage below it. Thanks for the ideas!

Busy day today, but progress has been outside the house. With Hurricane Irene taking a tour of the east coast, she made me realize that we are not ready here at home.

We had our house painted two years ago and I was able to re-install most of the tracks for our hurricane panels. Then last year we got pavers on our back porch, which raised the height of the patio at the doors. Earlier this month, we finally got faux stone 36" high on the patio walls. With the patio projects all complete, now was the time to get the panel tracks ready. Hurricane Irene came up a week ago. If it had come this way, I would have had to take time off work to do this project.

But, today, I finally raised the top tracks at two sliding glass doors to fit the panels. I could have just cut the panels off, but I have 27 panels the same height. By keeping them the same height, they are still interchangeable. The less panel sizes to deal with , the better

Then the removable base tracks had to have anchors installed in the pavers. We had the first couple rows a the doors mortared in so I could put the 1/4 x 20 lead anchors in. Got the base track for one door complete just before dinner. Tomorrow will be the other one.

I did learn that I need to pack a travel tool box for all projects, even in my own back yard. I must have waled from the patio to the garage at least 25 times today. If my memory could remember all of what I needed on each trip, it could have been only 20x.

Well, it feels good to be almost done with this project. And I pray that we never need to try the panels out. But I am prepared for the next one!

I have a basic set of tools that I keep in the house for minor stuff, but if I have to something major in the house or yard which requires "shop tools", I have one of those round bucket style tool totes that I throw stuff in for the project and if I need more than that, I'll use a box or crate. When I'm actually using the tools in the house, I make sure to keep dumping them back in the tote or crate, so when I'm done with the project everything gets back out to the shop. Otherwise stuff will get lost in the black hole inside the house or gremlins get the tools...LOL!

I just wish I could think that far in advance of all the tools that I think I may need. Each trip back was for something that probably would not have been in a universal all-around tool box that I would have set up - 5/16" ratchet wrench, then a 5/16" socket on a 1/4" drive because I didn't want to torque them with the ratchet, wood bit because the masonry bit wouldn't go thought the wood header beam... But, now I know what to expect next time I ever need to install hurricane panel tracks!

I have a basic set of tools that I keep in the house for minor stuff, but if I have to something major in the house or yard which requires "shop tools", I have one of those round bucket style tool totes that I throw stuff in for the project and if I need more than that, I'll use a box or crate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wingnut65

I just wish I could think that far in advance of all the tools that I think I may need.

I also use a tool tote to get the anticipated tools out to the remote job site, whether its the house or yard. It seems I NEVER grab everything that I eventually need so it usually takes about 10 trips back to the garage to get them.

BUT, the tote really comes in handy for bringing all the tools back in one trip, at least .

Words I will most likely never say "now I know what to expect next time I install hurricane panel tracks."

I will take a small measure of comfort from this come JAN/FEB.

Shaun

Shaun, On the other side of the seasons, I have absolutely no clue what is needed to winterize a home! Never really thought it was necessary for the 4-6 hours of below freezing weather we get at any one time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shopnut

BUT, the tote really comes in handy for bringing all the tools back in one trip, at least .

shopnut, So the tool tote was worth having on hand, even if it was to reduce the number of return trips. I do have one, I just thought a little job like that would not need it. I guess that is another lesson learned.

I’ve shown everyone around the , but I haven’t shown what I have on the ceiling. To me, that is valuable storage space that has been getting filled up as time goes by.

Starting over the workbench and my third parking bay/workshop, I have long wood stored and I recently installed a HF 30’ retractable power cord with a triple plug end. Not sure why I chose that spot to mount the wood rack, but when we moved in here 10 years ago, it seems like a pretty good idea at the time.
01

The blue cables are pre-installed wires for a second garage door opener. (Not in the budget yet and not really needed for the shop door). The black cord hanging over the wood is the extension cord I have been using all these years until I put up the retract one. (I just noticed that black cord has a triple plug, too ) The wood is a lot of 1x’s that I used for shelving in various rooms or as needed for projects, plus other long pieces… On the right side is a spare shelf I made stored up there.
02
I did need to install spacers on the top of the rack bar at the far end to raise the wood just enough for the garage door to clear it when at the top of its arc when opening and closing. On the far back wall, over the garage door track, is a sifter frame I made from 1x’s and chicken wire for working the yard.

On the ceiling over the middle parking bay is another pair of ceiling T-Racks. I really don’t know what they are called, but they look like this…
03
On this one, I have additional hurricane tracks and braces. The tracks are over 10’ long and can’t stand along the wall, so they went up there. The 2x3x1/16” angels are spare from the hurricane panels that the installer left for me. I’ll find something to make with them! The 4x4 braces are to brace the inside of my garage doors. The doors I have are hurricane resistant, up to a certain wind speed. I went through Andrew and I don’t want to take any chances. These braces will cut the span of my doors in half for the 9’ door and thirds for the 16’ door. I have 6x6 angle brackets that go on the top of the ‘L’ and attach into the red and blue holes above my doors in picture 02, above. The bottom has an angle that bolts to the floor slab. There is a smaller angle mid height of the brace that has a bolt into the door to help with negative pressures. Eventually I will install these just to get a few shots to post.

Not shown in these pictures is my 50’ retractable hose reel that I will be mounting between the two garage door tracks, just inside the door. With it mounted there, 50’ will get me out to the street for anyone that stops by and needs air. (ever notice how popular you are when someone needs to borrow some tools or needs some air and tehy know you can help?)

Also over the center bay, but accessible from the middle walking aisle, is my new ladder rack. I saw photos of these on someone else’s thread and thought they looked cool. Next to it is my former ladder shelf and hook. The wood shelf on the wall is where the foot of the ladder would rest and then I could push the top up and get the hook under a rung. It worked fine, but doesn’t look as cool as the new one. (I have since taken down the old one)
04
By the way, did I mention anywhere that I have new lights???

The ladder rack is built from a 1x4 at the top with 2x4’s on the ends. The horizontal is a 1/2” threaded rod with nuts on both sides of the 2x’s. Over the rod is a piece of 3/4” PVC, painted black. (I must note that this is gloss black as I had painted this well before Red Leader get me on the flat black accents in the Hideout! I may have to repaint this now. ) I do have caps to eventually put over the recessed rod ends.
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Now I spent a few too many hours making this - routing the 2x’s so I could bolt each from two directions, sanding all the wood grains, painting, sanding, painting, installing the threaded rods and PVC, and then mounting. Only after it was installed did I find out I made it a little too small. It works, but there is very little room to move the ladder around. Lesson learned!
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As I was standing on a 6’ step ladder with the 16’ extension ladder over my head and pushing the feet in first, did I realize that with the feet in first, the extension locks hang down and keep me from pushing the ladder in any further. Flipping it over didn’t work as the locks just hit the top of the rack. So, Wingnut learned another lesson that day - TGIF (Top Goes In First)
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But you can clearly see that there is very little extra room to get the ladder all the way in on one rack and then lift it up to slide it in the other end of the rack. It does fit, but really could use another inch to spare. (Like I haven’t heard that one before . Don't go there!) (There is only 7” clear from the bar to the top, but should have been 8”+)

The ladder is a 16’ fiberglass extension ladder from HD and is 8’ and some change when closed. The ladder rack is mounted 6’ apart, mounted into the trusses above. So making them further apart may have helped, but then I would have needed additional intermediate braces in the attic between the trusses.
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The ladder rack works for now. If I start to run low for things on my ‘To Do’ list, I may re-build the rack!

Also visible in this shot is my HF 40’ retractable power cord. I put a 40’ here so that I can take it out into the driveway when needed. And it works well out there.

And, just so I don’t forget how far I can pull this one towards the street, I used my handy dandy label maker to mark it as 40’.
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And, last but not least, over the first bay, is Nothing! (Except for the two lights)
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I am keeping this area open, possibly for a fishing pole rack. I have an idea what I want and when it comes up on my hit list, I will post pix of it as well. It would fit over the garage door opener, leaving the space between the lights and the wall still available for something else.

The shelf over the door has lanterns and a dead chainsaw. No reason why they are there other than it seemed like a good idea at the time. Now that I see what others are doing above their doors, I may just add more storage up there as well.

Hopefully others will learn from your experinces and give the ladder just a bit more clearance. It looks like it works just fine, however, and the ladder is certainly out of your way.

Would spacing the entire hanger down from the ceiling solve your problem with one end hitting the ceiling when putting the ladder up there? I picture simply sandwiching a 2x4 between the ceiling and the existing hanger. From the pictures, it seems like the opening is large enough but it's just too close to the ceiling.

tinbender 66: Thanks. The ceiling racks for the wood are something that I picked up at Home Depot. I tried to search for them now to get the correct terminology or brand name, and can't find them on-line. They may be something I stumbled across on a shelf. As for the hurricanes, at least we have enough time to be as prepared as we can before they hit. You can keep your earthquakes - too spontaneous.

flybefree: I never really thought about Zombie Panels. That could be a new marketing aspect that could sell hurricane panels across the country.

Red Leader: I'm still excited about the floor. I bought all the tiles last August and put down 1 bay where the Finance Minister parks. Kept it there for 11 months until I got around to putting the pattern down. I still have a couple more trim tiles to cut and install. Your epoxy will be great. That novel you wrote is Awesome!

Granite Guy: Feel free to copy the ideas you find here. That is where I have lifted some and fit them in my place. When you get one up, feel free to post some pix here.

JCQuick and jktruck150, Welcome to the Salt Life Hideout. Thanks for visiting and the great comments. There are cold ones in the fridge when you come back.

JC Nice Bugs. I'm hoping to get around to work on the bus soon so I can be ready for shopping at the Bug Jam in November. Ever make it down?

Hopefully others will learn from your experiences and give the ladder just a bit more clearance. It looks like it works just fine, however, and the ladder is certainly out of your way.

Would spacing the entire hanger down from the ceiling solve your problem with one end hitting the ceiling when putting the ladder up there? I picture simply sandwiching a 2x4 between the ceiling and the existing hanger. From the pictures, it seems like the opening is large enough but it's just too close to the ceiling.

shopnut, That idea is Brilliant! I have not thought about the remedy other than since I didn't build it deep enough, my thought was to just re-build it, only make it deeper. But your attention to details on your shop is now rubbing off on my shop as well.

As I read your suggestion, I pictured this... a 2x spacer 1/2" smaller all the way around. I'd paint it flat black and use it to create a shadow line. Although a larger spacer would act as a base plate and still could be black.
I think that may solve my too close tolerance problem. I decided a while ago to post my problems I come across so others can learn - warped doors, ladder rack - and when I do, I have had better repair ideas suggested to me in the process.

Yes, the tan is all wood. I had to break out the router table to get the edges just right. When I bolted it together, I filled the holes with spackle and had to repaint it at least 3 times to get the spackle to soak the paint for the same look as the wood. That is why I really dreaded rebuilding this whole thing. But shopnut comes to the rescue with another brilliant idea.

Yeah, but these Labrodeer don't come when you call them. They wander through and graze, but make a noise and they get spooked. I'm glad they are afraid of people so that they can live a little longer in our society.

As for the grass, we have been fortunate to have a lot of rain recently. I think our water table may be stable this year and we get off the 2-day a week watering restrictions. On some quiet days, you can hear the grass grow.

Having so much grass in teh yard is the strange mentality of cutting down all the native landscaping - trees, groundcover, etc - that don't need much water and bring in sod that must be watered or it dies. Viscious cycle, but it keeps lawnmower manufacturers and lawn care companies in business. But we don't have that white stuff to deal with...

The deer here in FL are pretty scrawny compared to what I was used to in WI. They’re still nice to look at, however.

I was feeding the dear too awhile back... ...with my shrubs!!! I starting noticing everyone’s vegetation in the front yard being balded. And then one morning I caught them in the act, in the driveway right next to the house. A little spray of “Deer Off” took care of it. I feel sorry for them though, since our community drove them out of their natural habitat years ago.

Jeff I was rather amazed to see Deer in your yard in Tampa . Growing up I dont ever remember seeing a Deer near my parents house and for most of my childhood we were surrounded by orange groves . Fletcher used to go right past our driveway until they moved it over and multi laned it all the way through . Where they moved it to used to be orange grove as well as the Condo's between it and moms house . We also had groves on the other side of the neighborhood till about 20 years ago when some builder bought them up and built million dollar homes in their place on tiny lots LOL. The only time I saw Deer growing up was when we would go out to a buddies family property uot in Pasco county.We get Northern Deer in the yard up here and they dont spook so easy .

Don't think I'd ever mind with lending a hand with that whole 'population control' thing that sometimes needs to happen with deer

Its funny - my wife's family has a small plot of land in the mtns and every time we go we see deer going through. All the women stand around to admire the dear creatures, then I chime in with how reassuring it makes me feel to see all the cute deer around, knowing that there will always be readily available meat should we ever have to bug out to the land. Gets her mom every time

Don't think I'd ever mind with lending a hand with that whole 'population control' thing that sometimes needs to happen with deer

Its funny - my wife's family has a small plot of land in the mtns and every time we go we see deer going through. All the women stand around to admire the dear creatures, then I chime in with how reassuring it makes me feel to see all the cute deer around, knowing that there will always be readily available meat should we ever have to bug out to the land. Gets her mom every time

Thanks Guys for all the deer comments. We moved up here from Miami and are thrilled to have this much wildlife still in the area. Our development also gets alligators in some of the ponds evey year. When they get about 4-5', animal control usually comes to relocate them before they become a problem. I have heard that one conservation area in our development has a lot of wild turkeys and at least one bobcat family. The turkeys I would be willing to get my bow out and thin the flock, but we just enjoy the deer hanging around. Our crops aren't supporting us as they are for flybefree. I have thought about having a BBQ some time and serving venison. I'd just say that I got it 'locally'. We also had a humming bird caught in our screened porch recently. I hadn't seen any before then.

rickairmedic, We live at the north end of Dale Mabry, out where there still is some native and untouched lands. When the developments get built right in the middle of the woods, the wildlife learns to adapt. Pasco is not far from us. In fact, during winter, I can see the coutny line. I could probably put a frisbee over the line if I tried. So, yes, the labrodeer could be from out in Pasco. I've heard some stories of the old Tampa, but I hadn't heard about life before the wide Fletcher. Thanks for sharing. Give be a holler when you make it back!

Well then your gonna have to change your location . Your not in Tampa your in Lutz ( pronounced luuts . I have freinds out that way as well that managed to grab some land while there still was some . Actualluy I guess it could be Tampa now seems as though Tampa has spread all the way to Zepherhills even my grandmother lives out there in a fancy community.

Guilty. And, it rhymes with 'Boots'. But for people around the country and around the world, that would be an extra Google search to figure out where I live. Since my desk and paycheck are in St Pete, it's appropriate to just say "Tampa Bay". After all, I cross it daily.

Thanks Guys for all the deer comments. We moved up here from Miami and are thrilled to have this much wildlife still in the area. Our development also gets alligators in some of the ponds evey year. When they get about 4-5', animal control usually comes to relocate them before they become a problem. I have heard that one conservation area in our development has a lot of wild turkeys and at least one bobcat family. The turkeys I would be willing to get my bow out and thin the flock, but we just enjoy the deer hanging around. Our crops aren't supporting us as they are for flybefree. I have thought about having a BBQ some time and serving venison. I'd just say that I got it 'locally'. We also had a humming bird caught in our screened porch recently. I hadn't seen any before then.

So the real question is...can you catch a little 'gator and keep it for a pet?

RL Gators are not good pets. Even though Tubbs had a 6' pet named 'Elvis', neighbors all grab the kids and lock the doors when you take one for a walk. Besides I live with one and have another that wants to be one in a few years. Sometimes I just can't win...

couchmechanic Nearest beach is about 20 miles away. We've lived here 10 years last month and the only time we go there is to spend a week on Indian Rocks Beach with Indiana relatives. Its sad that even though it is beautiful, I am always thinking of all the projects I could be doing back in the shop. I guess I'm just weird that way.

rickairmedic The Downtown area still exists. The traffic light works fine and the Library and replica Train Station are used regularly. Not much else down there. But you should see the new sports complex a mile west!

OK Wingnut, it's been two weeks or so since a REAL update on the progress. Surely you have done SOMETHING out there!

Thanks for asking, shopnut. The beginning of the month is usually filled with several evening meetings at Church or the dreaded HOA. Last weekend was spent taking the youth group (with daughters and Mrs W.) to Disney World for Night of Joy, and yesterday was the our leadership's yearly planning session, followed by house related stuff. But, some spare time in the evenings have been spent cleaning up the shop and cleaning and putting all the tools aways from recent projects and getting ready for the next.

Everything was fine until Tuesday when rickairmedic posted his cool hand turned brass flashlights and Red Leader's comments about getting into metalwork before I remembered that I have my Dad's old Unimat-SL, Model No DB 200 mini-lathe from the 1950's. But it was out in the shop and buried on the bottom shelf of the band saw. So I promptly had to go find the bandsaw (behind the 13-drawer tool box), and then dig down to find and dust off the vintage wooden box from Austria to reveal a vintage mini-lathe (4-5" bed) ...

My dad also had a small lathe (larger than this one) that is still in the garage in Miami that I will aim to pick up next trip down.

But, rest assured that I have been diligently typing up the next post for the floor tile installation. I'd like to post it all at once when I get all the photos and narration in sync. Don't you just hate it when the action and sound are out of sync?? Well, progress in the Salt Life Hideout is being made...

That's a cool little lathe. I see the tool bit holder in the cardboard box, but where it normally mounts on the carriage, there is a vise in it's place. Perhaps it can be used as a two-axis mini mill too by clamping an end mill bit in the headstock? That could be pretty handy!

Omphaloskeptic The Seven Dwarfs in The Salt Life Hideout? I had never thought of that display arrangement. Since this is a little more hi-tech than the caves the Dwarfs work in, this may be better fit for "Honey I Shrunk The Workshop", with Rick Moranis trying to get the vise to close by swinging on the handle! Display areas will be tight, but anything is possible.

shopnut and rickairmedic I haven't had it out of the box in years to figure out what goes where. The original advertisements show that the Unimat could stand on end as a drill press as well. Not sure if this model could or not. I will be doing more research to find the manuals for this. I may actually have the originals in my dad's old file cabinet. As for the vise where the tool rest goes, that would explain why the vise handle has popped a hole in the side of the box after all the years stored like that. The whole thing would fit better in the box if the vise was not there. Thanks for the insight and I will probably be asking more questions as I get deeper into this.

Unimat and Sherline are the two most popular lathe/milling machines for hobbyists. When I was involved in the model car stuff I bought a lot of aftermarket stuff that was made with those. Don't know about Unimat but Sherline offers a CNC version. Now that'd be fun!!!

Jeff good to see you doing a little digging . Imagine al the cool dash knobs and shifter knob and stuff you can make for the bus now and when asked where you got them you can smile and say " My garage " .

I think Jeff is like me and he will find something to sidetrack him . I have been " doing my garage since 2007 " and I have found plenty over the years to distract me from the job at hand . Look at it this way if we get him messing with metal machining tools we know he will keep the floors clean . I know my SWMBO goes bonkers when I walk in the house with metal shavings on my feet. I just tell them all wear shoes ya buncha rednecks and the metal wont hurt ya .

I love it when one of the girls 16 & 20 walks out in the garage barefoot . I tell them to walk over to the lathe for me and make sure I swept up ok .